Chapter 217 Shattered Dream:

"Flower Fairy!" Rong Xie was startled and immediately grabbed the light-emitting white orchid.

However, the flower fairy did not appear, and Shen Bingsi continued walking forward.

In the black fog, several patches of light suddenly appeared, crisscrossing forward, as if torches on the walls of the underground passage had suddenly been lit, one after another, illuminating a long corridor of unknown depth.

Shen Bingsi didn't walk fast, and Rong Xie could easily keep up with him, but this time, no matter how Rong Xie called out to him, he didn't respond.

"Bing Si, Bing Si... Damn flower demon!" Rong Xie couldn't help but curse.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the areas of light on the corridor wall. What he thought were torches were actually patches of light that appeared out of nowhere, vividly depicting a scene with him and Shen Bingsi as the main characters.

Rong Xie was stunned: "This is... what happened just now..."

In the grove just now, young Rong Xie and young Shen Bingsi were whispering under the cedar tree. As they talked, their heads came together and they began to kiss passionately.

The scene continued, becoming indescribable, and Rong Xie's cheeks flushed...

When Rong Xie came to his senses, Shen Bingsi had already walked a good ten feet away. He hurriedly chased after her, glancing left and right as he did so.

Sure enough, those spots of light were all scenes featuring him and Shen Bingsi. They held hands, hugged, and kissed in different settings, cultivated together, traveled between Linggu and Jianfeng together, and went to Hongxianglou to borrow dual cultivation manuals that only Daoist couples could see, as well as some trinkets to enhance their romance. They had become Daoist couples long ago, and the disciples of Linggu, Jianfeng, and Yunfeng were all oblivious to their affectionate relationship. Although there was no longer the ruthless Daoist prodigy, no Huanxue Manor, and no expensive orchids, life was still quite good. On the day Shen Bingsi mastered the sword control technique, they still traveled thousands of miles to Nandao. At the Zhenhai Stone at the southernmost tip of Nandao, they sat head to head and shoulder to shoulder, watching the moon rise and set, whispering sweet nothings all night. The sand, palm trees, and fishermen's dock on the beach were all shimmering in the moonlight.

These scenes are so beautiful that Rong Xie has decided to adopt some of them and put them into practice once Shen Bing Si wakes up.

Suddenly, Shen Bingsi stopped in his tracks. Rong Xie entered his body, and a chilling sensation enveloped Rong Xie, causing him to shiver.

I don't know when, but the corridor came to an end, and beyond that was the sky dyed blood red by the setting sun.

"This is……"

Suddenly, the corridor began to reverse. Rong Xie felt the stone pavement beneath his feet tilting, tilting and tilting until it became straight up and down. He and Shen Bing Si were like beans being poured out, floating aimlessly into the air and into a new dream.

"Hey!" Rong Xie fell downwards. For a moment, he thought he was going to die. He only managed to steady himself after he pulled out the Yunmeng Flat Boat.

The setting sun casts its golden rays over a thousand mountains, and the new dream is magnificent. However, what is about to happen is anything but pleasant.

Below the cliff, countless corpses lay piled up.

At the edge of the cliff, the same seven people were still there, holding the fort.

The only difference is that neither Lu Yingqi nor Xiaozhi are here.

Xuantian Sect, main peak, near Wenxin Gorge.

Jiang Caijie, Feng Zongzhu, and the Fifth Elder joined forces to support the Heaven-Sealing Formation to fight against the Flower Demon. However, the Flower Demon was extremely cunning, and they could not capture its true form. They were even possessed one by one.

Seeing that the Heaven-Sealing Formation was about to collapse, Judge Jiang slowly rose from the ground, light surging from his body, his voice authoritative and unquestionable:

"Junior disciples, the situation has changed. You two must leave immediately. Take this Mirror Palace token and tell everyone in front of the Heavenly Pivot Altar to leave the main peak. Don't leave a single person behind!"

Outside the magic circle, two figures were standing hand in hand.

They are the young Shen Bingsi and the young Rong Xie, of course, the grown-up versions.

The two, whose eyes were still full of enthusiasm after being nurtured by their long-standing friendship, had faces that were innocent and sweet, untouched by fate. Even though they were no longer as young as in the previous dream, they were still recognizable as people who had grown up along that line of destiny.

"Your Excellency the Adjudicator," Shen Bingsi took the token, hesitated slightly, and asked, "The Heaven-Sealing Formation is about to collapse. What do you plan to do? Will dispersing everyone solve the problem?"

Judge Jiang glanced down at him. The two had no interaction along this line. Judge Jiang's tone became even more businesslike: "I will self-destruct my primordial spirit to ensure that the flower demon is completely destroyed."

"What? Self-destruct your primordial spirit? Then you, Sect Master Feng, and the Fifth Elder will all have to sacrifice themselves?" Shen Bingsi was shocked.

"……yes."

"No!" Shen Bingsi gripped the token tightly, gritting her teeth. "The sect leader sent me here to help eliminate the flower demon. I can't just stand by and watch you all sacrifice yourselves!"

Rong Xie, who was beside him, looked at him with concern.

"Junior disciple, you've done a great service by helping to disperse the crowd. Do what you're capable of, and hurry up." Judge Jiang was clearly impatient.

“Bing Si…” Rong Xie shook Shen Bing Si’s arm, “Let’s go.”

Shen Bingsi didn't move; he remained silent, his gaze fixed on the ground beneath his feet.

Suddenly, he turned around and stuffed the Mirror Palace token into Rong Xie's hand: "Rong'er, do you believe me?"

“Ice Crystal…”

“I want to stay. The sect leader sent me to help, and I can’t just do nothing. I want to try and see if I can go in and kill the flower demon, so that everyone won’t have to sacrifice themselves.” Shen Bingsi looked at Rong Xie with a determined gaze. “We’ve defeated so many demons together before, we can definitely do it this time too! Do you believe me?”

"I..." Rong Xie held the sect leader's token, unsure whether to advance or retreat.

"Young disciple, don't act recklessly! This is not a place for children to play around!" Judge Jiang raised his voice, "It is indeed rare for you to have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage at such a young age, but even we old guys in the Divine Transformation stage are no match for the flower demon. What are you? Listen to me, go and convey my order to disperse the crowd. After the order is conveyed, you all leave immediately."

"No!" Shen Bingsi gritted her teeth, drawing her flying sword—a golden longsword, but not the Shengxie Sword. "I will defeat the flower demon! Rong'er, go and give the order! Maybe by the time you return, I will have already dealt with the flower demon!"

Rong Xie remained standing there, his eyes reddening.

"Rong'er, don't even you believe me?" Shen Bingsi turned around.

"No, I... will always believe in you." Rong Xie gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran towards Tianji Altar.

Once Rong Xie's figure disappeared, Shen Bingsi rushed into the barrier.

After delivering the sect leader's order, Rong Xie immediately returned to the edge of the cliff, but even so, he was still too late.

The Heaven-Sealing Barrier had shattered into a spiderweb, and Shen Bingsi was suspended in mid-air, her fate unknown. Then, she was thrown off the cliff by an invisible force, ending up like the mountain of corpses below.

At the same time, Jiang Caijie self-destructed his primordial spirit, and the bright light swept across the heavens and earth, shattering the Heaven-Sealing Formation along with it. The entire main peak of the Xuantian Sect broke apart in the huge impact, and the mountaintop, like a toppled giant tower, slid down and plunged into the bottom of the Wenxin Gorge, with sand and stones flying everywhere and dust rising into the clouds.

The scene before him was so shocking that Rong Xie didn't immediately realize what he was seeing.

Until a suppressed groan came from beside him.

Rong Xie turned his head and saw that Shen Bingsi, who had been watching everything from the sidelines, was painfully pulling at her hair.

The indifferent expression on his face vanished, as if a crack had appeared in the ice shell, revealing fresh flesh and blood beneath, mottled with wounds.

Shen Bingsi whispered in anguish, "You're so useless! You're so useless!"

"Bing Si, it's not like that!" Rong Xie immediately flew over, trying to stop Shen Bing Si from continuing to hurt herself, but his hand passed through Shen Bing Si's body, and he could only watch helplessly as Shen Bing Si's face was twisted in pain.

"You're so useless! Rong'er is really unlucky to have followed you!" Shen Bingsi continued to murmur.

“Yeah, you’re really useless.” Rong Xie suddenly heard himself say, “You promised to protect me for life, but in the end you were no match for me, and you killed yourself and me.”

Rong Xie was shocked, then he became furious: "Flower demon! You have the guts to come out, I'll peel off your flower skin and uproot your flower roots!"

However, the laws of dreams always favor the flower fairy, and Rong Xie's voice could not reach Shen Bing Si's ears. All Shen Bing Si heard was the false Rong Xie's resentful murmur.

“Yes, I’m really useless,” Shen Bingsi said, his eyes vacant, repeating the words the flower demon had instilled in him. “How dare I, in my weakness, presume to abandon the Path of Ruthlessness… What value do I have?”

"If you were given a second chance," the flower fairy's voice became sweet and seductive, "what would you do?"

"I will never love him again." Shen Bingsi slowly raised his head, the pain on his face gradually disappearing, replaced by indifference and numbness. "Only in this way can I protect him."

"Very good," the flower fairy chuckled, "Unfortunately, my power is insufficient, so I can only try again. If you wish to do it one more time, you'll have to sign a soul contract with me~"

"..." Shen Bingsi's gaze turned to the void, where Rong Xie was desperately trying to stop him, but he couldn't hear him at all. "Fine. This time, I won't make the same mistake again."

The black mist surged up again; the old dream ended, and a new dream was about to begin.

"Shen, Bing, Si!" Surrounded by black mist, Rong Xie panted as he grabbed the neck of the shadowy version of Shen Bing Si, imagining that he could really strangle him. If he didn't think this way, he might go crazy with anger. "You idiot, moron, big moron, you are the stupidest donkey I have ever seen!"

This was already the limit of Rong Xie's insults. After saying this, Rong Xie covered his face and cried.

"Rong'er, don't cry." Shen Bingsi raised her hand and reached out to where he couldn't see her. The cool touch lingered on Rong Xie's cheek. Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi in astonishment. Shen Bingsi was also looking at him, but her gaze was unfocused. He still couldn't see her. She was just instinctively comforting her unseen beloved, "I will still love you, but that love will look like that of a close friend."

Rong Xie was stunned, tears falling like broken beads. He took half a step back, avoiding the icy hand: "Who wants your damned friendship! If you're so capable, open your eyes and look at reality! The real you isn't like this. You should have both, be very confident! Not like now, being played around by the flower demon! Signing some damned soul contract—if you turn yourself into flower fertilizer, I'll never love you again. Go, go be reborn, go go through the fate of killing your wife to prove your path again. I'm not in the mood to play your tricks again!"

After venting his frustrations, Rong Xie walked forward without looking back.

Behind him, Shen Bingsi slowly raised her eyebrows, staring intently in the direction he had left.